On the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, Gabriel Colodro’s reporting shines a light on a stubborn reality inside Israeli academia: women enter scientific fields in strong numbers but steadily fade from senior ranks. At many institutions, women make up about 50% of doctoral students, yet representation at the faculty level can fall to roughly 15%, revealing a gap that widens as careers move forward.
At the Weizmann Institute of Science, Prof. Idit Shahar says the pipeline isn’t broken at the beginning. The real challenge emerges later, when academic advancement often demands years abroad as a postdoctoral researcher. “In order to become an academic staff member, you need to go abroad,” she explains, describing a decision that can carry heavier personal costs for women balancing family expectations. The pressure became painfully tangible when an Iranian missile attack on June 15, 2025 destroyed Shahar’s laboratory, forcing her and her students to rebuild both infrastructure and confidence.
At Tel Aviv University, Prof. Tova Milo approaches the issue with data. She says women’s representation drops sharply between graduate school and faculty hiring, a shift she describes as women “disappearing” from the system. Milo helped launch ExactShe, a layered mentoring initiative linking faculty, PhD candidates, and younger students. Since the program began, she says recruitment of female faculty has risen from 15% to 25%, suggesting that targeted intervention can reshape outcomes.
Prof. Silvia Schuster adds a longer historical perspective, pointing to structural barriers such as childcare burdens and the demands of experimental science, where lab work cannot easily move online. Across their experiences, one theme stands out: careers rarely collapse in dramatic moments; they erode through small decisions shaped by mobility requirements, timing, and institutional expectations. Colodro traces how Israeli universities are testing ways to slow that quiet attrition and keep more women moving forward in science.